Have a great seafood weekend!

It is the weekend tomorrow! Yay! Mr Hoby and I are gonna have a seafood feast at Bretts Wharf. They are famous for their seafood platter for one and also their romantic surroundings. I can't wait for tomorrow night to come! May your weekend be as lovely as mine.

Photos taken from Bretts Wharf website 

Lovely bride that kiss the groom

I am so in love with her hair-do, gown and make-up! I totally love her look! Recently, I am so into weddings! From bride's hair-do, gowns, make-up, to pretty invitation cards, door gifts, flowers, to even the photography! Our friends are getting married in Brissy and they have roped us in to help! Their wedding is so different from ours. They focus on things that we think it wasn't important, they have it at venues that our parents will say no to, they give gifts that we never will think of! So privilege to be part of their celebration.

I love this Lovely Bridal Shop because it makes me wanna kiss the groom again! Of course, kiss Mr Hoby again!

A 30th Birthday cake

It was Mr Hoby's 30th birthday yesterday and I decided to make a cake for him. Remember the website Mingmakescupcakes that I introduced last week? I decided to try the Sour Cream Raspberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

And I succeeded! Its really yummy and very easy to make! I think it is also the grace of GOD that see me through. I didn't want to spoil Mr Hoby's birthday cake!
I am totally please with my creation and most importantly, Mr Hoby loved it!

The Song steamboat

Our friends Mr and Mrs Song make the most delicious steamboat! They are also the first who introduce to us how to eat steamboat differently from our usual Singaporean way!

We love eating steamboat at their place not only because the food is absolutely fantastic but also because of the fun and laughter we have over the steamy hot air and boiling hot soup! Of course, the weather plays a crucial role in this fellowship of hotness!

Let me introduce to you the Brissy Qing dao version steamboat!

The ingredients include: 1) Jian you bao (below)- it comes in a big packet with all these little fried balls, what you need to do is to crush it into soup and the ball would automatically absorb the soup and you end up eating soggy baos! I love the act of crushing the balls more than eating them!

2) See the white colour looking balls below? Its Yu Bao Dan (translated as fish ball egg). Its actually fish balls with fish eggs in it. I am not sure its the taiwanese or hongkongers who introduce this to Brissy but the Singaporeans (us) love it to bits and couldn't find it in Singapore! So now, we are eating as MUCH as we can.

3) Our favourite mushroom meatball and the slice beef and pork! Yumz...
4) Mr Song does the best soup base. The soup is made up of the many hours of boiling spareribs, lots of chinese herbs and dash of sesame seeds!
5) And finally, my super duper favourite dish- dong toufu (frozen beancurd). The beancurd must be frozen and defrost for an hour before eating. It has to have those holes (see the pic below) so that it would absorb the soup and when you bite into it, the soup will spurt out from the toufu into your mouth!

Gu Cai with prawns

I spotted this plate of greenish white chives-looking vegetables and immediately shouted at Mr Hoby! After his nod of confirmation, I excitedly placed one packet into my shopping bag!

I am super shocked by the price! A small bunch of this cost me AUS$2.90 (it might even be less than 20 strands)! But we are happy! I dunno what is the exact name of this vegie but my mum calls it the white strand gu cai (aka white coloured chives).

I can guarantee that even those vegies-haters would love this plant once you try my mum's recipe of gu cai fried with prawn and deep-fried bian yu(扁鱼)! I cannot find bian yu here and hence, I do without it and its also as yummy.

The trick is to marinate the prawn first before frying: wine, sesame oil, fish sauce, sugar, cornflour and pepper.

Fry the prawn until cooked, remove it, throw in mashed garlic and then the gu cai.

The end results of my frying is shown below. I am surely going to get more from the market this week!

My own little Italian creation

Mr Hoby is having exams and I decided to give him moral support by preparing a sumptuous Italian breakfast for him. I found fresh ciabatta bread at Coles supermarket and its definitely my idea kinda brekky. 

The fresh ciabatta required baking (for abt. 8 mins) and I turned the oven mode to grill and place cheese and ham onto it. I grilled it for about 1 min or until the cheese melt and turned brownish. I added my favourite baby cos lettuce to it and done! Our very own ciabatta sandwich for brekky, with nachos and chunky tomato dips (as side). 

Fact file: Do you know that in Italian, ciabatta means “slipper,” leading some people to call the bread “slipper bread.” The name is a reference to the shape, which does sort of resemble a slipper. Ciabatta bread tends to be short, wide, and long, which makes it ideally suited to sandwiches. It is also offered with olive oils and other dips, since the crumb absorbs dips and liquids very well, and it may be toasted when served for this purpose. 

Just Italian

I have been trying to find time to blog about our food adventure at Adelaide and finally managed to get some pictures done. 

We love Adelaide and of most, their food culture. Why do I say its a culture? Because the Adelaide folks really know how to enjoy their food, to the very minute details, the condiments. We went to Adelaide like blind bats (without doing any research) and thankfully GOD sent us the best guide ever. He began our food journey by starting us on the Italian food in Adelaide. We love Italian food, not only because Mr Hoby used to be a pizza boy in an authentic Italian restaurant years ago, but also because we just love the carbo- Pizzas & Pasta! 

I must say that the Italian restaurants in Adelaide beat our favourite Buono and Cacio De Pepe thumbs down (well, at least for the pizzas and the sweets)! Sadly, we didn't get to try their pasta, but the pizzas and the sweets were good enough to kill! 

I spent alot of time just snapping the posters at every Italian cafe and restaurants we went. They were totally vintage and original! The famous Italian cafe in Adelaide is CIBO, its their homebrand. I think I was more in love with their art in coffee-making and unique walls designs than the food, but of course, their coffee made my legs turn jelly because it was JUST TOO GOOD! 

Here are some nice wall designs that they have... 

Food must go with a good glass of wine, our guide brought us to a "higher level" of wine tasting. Being a wine expert himself, he taught us how to choose wine, smell wine, taste wine and enjoy them with food. This trip empowered us to drink real good red wine other than the sweet wine that we ALWAYS stick too! After a day trip to the wineries in Adelaide including the famous Penfolds and Jacob Creeks, I found myself appreciating wine so much more. 

Lastly, the sweets! My favourite course of any meal! I ate so much sweets during the trip that I felt that the ants were coming near me- to be my friends. But it's irresistible! Every counter that I passed in the Italian joints, I felt so drawn to buy something. I am serious. On the 2nd day of my trip, I craved so much for the gelati even though it was so cold. We walked for at least half an hour to find me one really good one! So pampered right? I ordered a Mango and Berry gelati! Double scoop, Yes! Usually, I would order only 1 scoop, but after the free tasting, all the flavours were calling out to me, "BUY ME BUY ME"! I had to answer to their cry right? Haha...But no regrets!

For those with sweet tooth

I have a sweet tooth. Its very bad but everyday I need to eat something sweet! Either my favourite tic tac orange flavour sweet, belgian chocolate, or apple juice. Recently, I am obsessed (in Mr Hoby's words) with apples..

Anyway, as I was serving for sweet things, this sweet and chic website pop up! Please enjoy..this website- Mingmakescupcake created by Ming Thompson who is a harvard graduate.

This is my favorite cupcake taken from his website. I wanna try to make it one fine day!

Our usual BIG BUYS

We do our BIG BUYS every Saturday morning. The Saturday outdoor markets in Brisbane is a must go for tourist but also a must for students like us. The vegies and fruits are not only fresh but CHEAP!


Last Saturday, we had to do our marketing at the Sunnybank (which is a chinese grocery area) to get some chinese ingredients and also to the outdoor market to buy flowers and fruits.

Usually if you go at a later time, the store owners would be selling their stuff at a discounted price so that they can close shop early. So, with that in mind, we managed to buy this 2 mosiac candle holders at discount price and also the beautiful daisies at $6 (a big bunch).

My most happy buy is this very expensive but SUPER SUPER SUPER YUMMY apple juice! It costs us $4 a bottle and we finished it in 2 days! Yap, short of getting into a fight, trying to see who can drink more. Seriously, its shiok!


I will miss all these when I head home in September!

My hokkien Lor Ark

Mr Hoby was servicing his car at the south side and since it is far away from our place, I asked him to do some marketing for me. He was so proud that he bought me a free-range duck! Ha..we usually only see free-range chicken in the supermarket but hardly see any free-range duck, so quite excited. Other than finding something different, he was very proud that he got it cheaper than other marts. So househusband! Muacks him! 

So, in celebration of this little "victory", I decided to do Lor Ark. Now, it may sound like a huge task, but other than cutting away the backside and chopping away the head, the rest is simple! 

The ingredients are just dark soya sauce, five spice powder and a mixture of fried garlic, shallot and ginger! 

And how can Lor Ark do without Lor Nen? I really love the taste of the eggs soaked in dark soya sauce! Yumzzz....

That night, we had 2 other friends who came and enjoyed this lovely duck with us! One of them even ate 3 eggs! Wooo.... 

It was a lovely night with small do-ups like the daisy flowers and mosiac candle that really made the dishes taste even better!

Luo Bo Gao

Mr Hoby likes to show-off to others that I can make our own luo bo gao and he ALWAYS get to eat it for brekky. Always is his exaggeration but its definitely a "I MISS HOME" dish that I have made....uh...quite often. 

I remember my friend, Mr Seet tried asking me for the recipe and he, who loves to cook, felt that it would be easier to just buy them at $2, rather then making them from scratch! Hey, but in Brisbane, no way! 

So this is our own version of LUO BO GAO and we are surely proud of it! 

Credit to Mdm Lee (my mother) 

Ingredients 

1 big long daikon (also called Chinese radish or luo bo)

2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon white pepper

2 cups finely ground rice flour

2 cups water

4 large eggs

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

1/4 cup ketjap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce- I use ABC brand) 

1 1/2 teaspoons sambal oelek (the best is the one with the thumbs-up symbol one) for serving

 CHAI PO, chopped (1/4 cup) and soak in water to get rid of saltiness

1/2 cup chopped spring onions
Special equipment: a well-seasoned 14-inch flat-bottomed wok with lid

Method

Oil bottom and side of a 9-inch round cake pan.

Peel daikon, then shred ( i use hand or in a food processor fitted with medium shredding disk. Reserve any liquid.

Heat wok over high heat y. Pour 3 tablespoons oil down side of wok, then tilt wok to swirl, coating side. Fry chopped garlic and Chai Po. Add daikon with any liquid, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and stir-fry 3 minutes. Cover and cook over moderately low heat, stirring and breaking up daikon occasionally, until daikon is very tender, about 15 minutes.

Whisk together rice flour and water in a large bowl until smooth, then stir in daikon (mixture will be lumpy) and pour into cake pan.

Set a steamer rack inside cleaned wok and fill wok with water (not above steamer rack), then bring to a boil. Reduce heat to moderate and steam cake in pan on rack, covered, 1 hour (replenish water as necessary). Wearing oven mitts, transfer pan to a cooling rack and cool about 1 1/2 hours. Wrap pan tightly with plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours.(Actually I ALWAYS just leave it to air overnight and fry it the next morning. It tastes the best this way)

Make stir-fry:

Heat dried wok over high heat until a drop of water evaporates instantly. Pour 4 tablespoons oil down side of wok, then tilt wok to swirl, coating side. When oil begins to smoke, add cake cubes, garlic, and add fish sauce and stir-fry, letting cake rest on bottom and sides of wok about 10 seconds between stirs, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. (Cubes will soften and may stick to wok. Scrape brown bits from bottom of wok and continue stir-frying.) Add eggs to wok and stir-fry until eggs are just set, about 1 minute. Stir inketjap manis, sambal oelek, and scallions, then transfer to a serving dish and scatter cilantro on top. 

My comfort food

One of my comfort food is all time favourite Aglio Olio! Mr Hoby makes it really well and its something that I request from him whenever I don't feel like cooking! In Mr Hoby's words, the trick to cooking good pasta is simple ingredients, always, ALWAYS put tons of salt when boiling your pasta and only ONLY cook it for 7 minutes. Trust Mr Hoby, he really knows his stuff! 

Celebration food- Siu York!

I call this my celebration food! I am in a celebration mood today because I just got a 10/10 for one of my assignment! The last I got full marks for my test is in primary school! Praise GOD for that! So, I decided to celebrate this joyous occasion by blogging about Siu York. My dad in law makes this dish whenever there is a special occasion. I must say he does it the best! 


Few ingredients are needed (coarse salt, honey, 5-spice powder and pepper)  and the marinating process is super simple. 

I like the process of making Siu York. However, I must admit that the steps can be quite complicated and strenuous, however, I enjoyed how the Siu York sprout into life! Look at the Siu York in progress! 

Don't be anxious about the burnt parts because it is supposed to be like that in order to create the crispiness! I did not have the burnt parts the last time round and I ended up having soggy skin! 

After scrapping away the burnt parts, what I got is the  golden brown Siu York! Mr Hoby gave me 2  thumbs up! 

Otak

I missed my mother's home-cooked dinner! Her home-made otak is one of those that we missed alot in Brissy! Though we don't have her spicy home-made chili, our otak turns out to be quite like hers.


I substituted my mother's well-known chilli with the "glory brand" nonya chili that I bought in a jar. After scrapping off the fish meat from 2 pieces of mackerel, I added the chili, one egg, oyster sauce, soya sauce, sugar, pepper, corn flour and most imptly, coconut cream into the fish mixture.

After spreading the paste thinly on a aluminum foil, I marinated it for the whole night before placing the whole otak in a oven to "bake" it for 30 mins at 200C.

Here you go! A family dinner with delicious big piece of otak to go with rice and vegetables! This made us think of home! 

Dream Supper in Brissy: Kong Bak Bao

I have been doing my assignment for the whole day and I am still at my introduction of a literature review. Sigh...

As I write, my tummy started growling and I have a sudden craving for Kong Bak Bao! *Slurp** 

I remembered when I first made Kong Bak Bao, I did not get the big piece of pork belly but got some fatty pork strips instead. We can never finish one big piece of pork belly and hence, these pork strips do the trick as well. Plus, its so much easier to cut them. 

My Kong Bak Bao shares the same recipe as many home-made and our favourite is adding baby cos lettuce to the Bao. It made us  feel less sinful and I like the crisp of cos lettuce. 

How I wish I can have one now, in a cold night like this! Back to my assignment now....

Home-made berry jam cheesecake (no bake)

This is my favourite easy to make cheesecake- Nigella Lawson's version. It is so good that I even tried licking the mixing bowl after I made it to make sure that there is no wastage.

My version looks super homemade and my trick is organic lemon from my neighbour's house.
The taste of this organic lemon gives the cake such a fresh tang!

I made my own mixed berry jam by cooking 2 handfuls of frozen berries with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of water in a small saucepan. The jam will thicken as you cook in slow fire.
I made this cake for my cell group in Brissy and only Mr Hoby didn't like it because its too cheesy for him. Please follow Nigella's recipe below and you will be loved by many!

Home-made berry jam cheesecake (which I modified from Nigella Lawson's recipe) INGREDIENTS 125g digestive biscuits 75g melted butter 300g cream cheese 60g icing sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon organic lemon juice 250ml double cream Homemade berry sauce Serving Size : Serves 6–8METHOD 1. Smash the cookies in a freezer bag by using a rolling pin make the mixture clump.Then melt the butter and mix it into the crumbs. 2. Press this mixture into a 20cm springform tin; press a little up the sides to form a slight ridge. 3. Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth. 4. Lightly whip the double cream, and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture. 5. Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula. Put it in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight. 6. When you are ready to serve the cheesecake, unmould it and spread the jam over the top.